Masonic Facts.

was rendered helpless , alike to himself and for the work , but no other person than himself was in the least injured . " Against the Master only was this vengeance of God or spite of the devil directed . " The Masterthus hurtremained in his bed for

, , some time under medical care , in expectation of recovering , but was deceived in this hope , for his health amended not . Nevertheless , as the winter approached , and it was necessary to finish the upper vault , he gave charge of the work to a certain ingenious and industrious monkwho was the overseer of the Masons ; an

, appointment whence much envy and malice arose , because it made this young man appear more skilful than richer and more powerful ones . But the Master reclining in bed , commanded all things that should be done in order .

And the Master , perceiving that he derived no benefit from the physicians , gave up the work , and crossing the sea , returned to his home in Erance . And another succeeded him in the charge of his works ; William by name , English by nation , small in body , but in workmanshi p of many kinds acute and honest . He

in the summer of the fifth year ( A . D . 1179 ) , finished the cross on each side , that is , the south and the north , and turned the ciborium which is above the great altar , which the rains of the previous year had hindered , although all was prepared . Moreover , he laid the foundation for the enlargement of the church at the eastern part , because a chapel of St . Thomas was to be built there . "

" The convent was ejected by the fire from the choir , even as Adam from Paradise , in the year of the word 1174 , in the month of September , on the fifth day of the month , and about the ninth hour . They remained in the nave of the church five years , seven months , and thirteen days . And returned into the

new choir in the year of grace 1180 , in the month of April , on the nineteenth day of the month , at about the ninth hour of Easter Eve . " A . D . 1180 , our Craftsman had erected the choir of the four altars , where the bodies of the holy Archbishops were deposited , as they were of old , and as we have above described . "

Gervase says that in the old capitals the work was p lain , in the new ones exquisite in sculpture . There the arches and everything else was p lain , or sculptured with an axe and not with a chisel . But here almost throughout is appropriate scul pture . The date of the introduction of the chisel at

Can-EiG . 10 . —Tombstone at Bakewelf , Derbyshire , 11 th century .

Masonic Facts.

terbury is thus fixed to be somewhere about 1175 , though there is reason to suppose that it was used before his time at York . 5 S . Monuments or tombstones of Masons of mediaeval times are not common , there are a few in existence in this country ; on the continent there are several inscriptions , which will be given in due order .

The late Mr . Bateman has figured various ancient tombs , which were found a few years ago at Bakewell Church , Derbyshire ; amongst them is this one ( Eig . 10 ) , with the marks of the departed Mason incised , upon it . The custom of sculpturing the Mason ' s marks on tomb stones is still in force in Denmark , Schleswig-Holstein , & c .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

THE GAVEL . : What is the correct form of the Gavel used in lodges ? —H . J . —[ It is a stone-hammer , which is frequently confounded , ( by Freemasons ) with two other inplements used , by working masons , namely , the mallet and the settlingmaul , or beetle . In the English and American lodgesthe term gavel is applied to the emblem of power , used

by the Master in governing his lodge , and which is shaped , like a sculptor ' s or stone-cutter ' s mallet . In the French lodges , it is termed " le maillet , " and in the German ,. " der hammer . " It has been contended that the word gavel is derived from " gable , " and that the instrument should be shaped like the gable of a house . In the frontispiece of a well-known bookwe find depicted both

, the setting-maul and the small hammer , the latter beingshaped somewhat like a pick-axe ; although in the text the words " gavel" and "setting-maul"are used as synonyms . In "Webster , the word " gavel" is derived from the Welsh gavael , a hold , a grasp , tenure , signifying , also , the gable of a house ; and gaveloch , Saxon , an iron crow . Bailey defines " gavelock" as " any kind of

warlike instrument , malleolus , also a pick-axe . " The Master's gavel ( so called ) should be in shape " a stonecutter ' s mallet , " and the gavel proper , or stone-hammer , is the appropriate working-tool of the Entered Apprentice , used , by the operative mason , to prepare the rough stone for the application of the square of the Fellow-Craft , and symbolically , by the speculative Mason , to divest his heart and conscience of the vices and superfluities of life , in order to fit his mind for the reception of " eternal truth . ]

FEEDERICK II . OF TEUSSIA AJtD THE AXCTEXT AXD ACCEPIED ,. OR SCOTTISH , BITE . There are as many Masons averse to tbe high-grades in America as else-where and it is the object of some of them to decry the power and importance of those rites which they do not understand . On the New York Bispatch one of these antagonists is regularlengaged

y ,, showing certain leanings against all but what he terms blue Masonry ! One of these articles is so interesting , from being partly correct and partly in error , that it is hoped it may find a place in the " Masonic Notes and Queries . " The writer commences in the following strain :

" There appears to be a strange infatuation on the part of many members of the Ancient and Accepted , or Scottish , Kite , who persist in ascribing to Frederick II ., King of Prussia , the authorship of the so-called Grand Constitutions of 1786 , and the institution of the 33 rd degree . Bro . Raymond , Grand Commander of one of the rival Supreme Councils , sitting at Boston , 'in an address delivered on the occasion of the last communication of that body , ( see Transactions . 1861 , p . 63 ) very eooly tells us , that

.' . The constitution , as it came from Frederick , the founder of the Order in its present form , permitted that there should be hut two Supreme Councils in this country , & c . ' And again ' It is well known to you that the 33 rd and last , or ' governing , degree